Islamabad: Determined to give boost to bilateral trade and strengthening economic ties with India, the Pakistan on Wednesday hinted on taking a final call on the long pending grant of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India very soon.

While dismissing the reports that Pakistan is delaying the matter because of the ongoing political crisis, Minister for Commerce of Pakistan, MA Fahim termed it a ‘sensitive issue’.

Fahim said, “I assure to take immediate and effective steps to grant MFN to India to remove barriers that restrict trade.”

“In the cabinet meeting, two Ministers have raised questions related to bilateral trades thus, we need to discuss it once again so that we can reach to a common consensus,” Fahim said, a day after Pakistan failed to clear hurdles in granting MFN status to New Delhi.

When asked to react whether Pakistan will export petroleum and diesel products from India or not, he said, “We are looking into this.”

India in 1996, had granted the similar status to Pakistan.

Experts believe that MFN to India will surely normalize trade relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Earlier in the day, Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma during a meeting in Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed displeasure over Pakistan’s stand for granting MFN to India.

“If Pakistan walks one step, India will walk three steps. India has already taken steps to improve commerce with Pakistan. We have taken the steps we had said, we (Indian) kept our promises. The Pakistan administration must also take effective measures to strengthen the economic ties,” Sharma said.

Sharma along with the largest Indian business delegation to Pakistan, consisting of 120 members, had arrived Pakistan on Monday to strengthen economies ties between both countries.

Since independence, this is the first time an Indian trade Minister is on Pakistan visit.